Heads or Tails: Stories from the Sixth Grade (Jack Henry) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of the offbeat Rotten Ralph picture books makes an auspicious foray into new ground with this semi-autobiographical, wholly engaging novel. His narrator, Jack, travels through the often poignant moments that highlight his sixth grade year, at the same time describing his unpredictable family life: "Since I was born, we had already lived in nine different houses. I hated that word 'renter.' It made me feel that I didn't really belong anywhere, like we had to pay people to put up with us," he says. Stuck between an older sister he emulates and a pesky if appealing younger brother, Jack always strives to do the right thing--often to land in trouble. His perspective is quirky but reliable, and often surprising. The first chapter, for example, describes Jack's three-year battle to fill his diary; when he can think of nothing to write, he begins to pack the diary with "stuff"--bugs, baseball cards, stamps and so on--but he concludes, "I was covering over the empty white space of the pages in the same way I covered my eyes with my hands when I watched a monster movie." A bittersweet resonance filters the humor in these stories, and lingers most welcomely. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-A book that reads like an improbably successful collaboration between Betsy Byars and William Sleator: funny but ...weird! Set in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, sometime in the late '60s, these eight stories about an appealing sixth grader named Jack are filled with oddball characters and offbeat situations: neighbors, for example, keep 30 dogs (in the house), paint an atom bomb target on the roof, and drive cars on their lawn. Jack's world is not only weird, it's rootless. He's lived in nine different houses and attended five schools in six years-and, some days, it's even dangerously out of control: a plane falls out of the sky and the pilot is killed; the family's dog is eaten by an alligator; younger brother Pete keeps getting injured while in his care-no wonder Jack always thinks the worst and wistfully believes in UFOs, hoping "they'll take me away from all this confusion and set me down in a place without fear." And yet Jack, like the watch that takes a licking, always keeps on ticking, performing acts of unselfconscious kindness. He's a survivor, an "everyboy" whose world may be wacko but whose heart and spirit are eminently sane and generous. Gantos is a terrific writer with a wonderfully wry sensibility, a real talent for turning artful phrases, and a gift for creating memorable characters. In the first story Jack thinks, "I can either be a copycat for the rest of my life or I can be one-of-a-kind." By the final story, readers will realize that he has become the latter and so has this memorable book about him.
Michael Cart, formerly at Beverly Hills Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374329095
• ISBN-13: 978-0374329099
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,879,725 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heads or Tales Brings You Back, November 6, 2002

By	Robert Bernstein (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heads or Tails: Stories from the Sixth Grade (Jack Henry) (Paperback)

I loved this book and have had lots of fun sharing this book with my 6th grade students. They laugh at all the parts of the story where I think they should or might and then they laugh at me when I'm laughing at the story. I love reading the scene where Jack rides his bike after the mosquito fogger and whipes out.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book!, October 18, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Heads or Tails: Stories from the Sixth Grade (Jack Henry) (Paperback)

This is a great book for kids my age. It has it all: humor,drama,
and adventure. I suggest it!
John T.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I recommend this book to anyone. It is very humorous., October 22, 1998

By A Customer

Jack Gantos wrote a half fiction and half biography book. It is filled with many small stories , all tying together in some way. grab it while you can.